KySat

05/03/2010

Art: "The lie that makes us realize the truth"

[I'm reposting this because in the video below, Lehrer gets at a thought from Pablo Picasso that I Facebooked recently: "Art is the lie that makes us realize the truth."]

Filmed shortly before his presentation at the 2008 IdeaFestival, Jonah Lehrer describes how through a process of experimentation and intense curiosity artists have anticipated discoveries about the mind later confirmed by science. Sure, were he alive today Proust wouldn't synthesize the next miracle drug, but his investigation and subsequent art musters something more vital to the human experience - the right question asked at the right time. Have a listen.